Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Turnip (early)
Varieties: 'Red Early Flat-top', 'Snowball'
Maincrop turnips are easily grown in the garden during spring, summer and
autumn, and can be stored for overwintering. Their flavour, however, is not as
good as the small 'early' turnips, which you can sow in late summer / early
autumn for a winter harvest in the polytunnel that will continue into early spring.
Preparation
Turnips do best in full sun in rich, well-drained soil. They make an ideal plant for
spots that were manured or composted for a previous crop such as cucumbers or
melons.
Sowing
Turnip seed can germinate in very low soil temperatures but germination is better,
and faster, at 10-15°C. For an early harvest in spring, sow a few seeds direct in
February, 1cm deep. They can be sown indoors in modules at the same time for
later planting, in the event that pests snag all your direct sowings, and should be
ready for harvest in April and May.
For harvesting over winter, sow seeds in modules from late July to early August,
at two-week intervals. Plant into the tunnel beds as soon as the seedlings are
large enough and cover with a fleece if pests are likely to be a problem. The
resulting plants will have grown large enough to harvest during the cold weather,
when they will stop growing and can be harvested at leisure.
Seeds sown in late August to mid-September will not usually mature before the
cold weather sets in, but they will begin to grow again in spring and will provide
plump turnips from mid-February until the end of March, when they are likely to
bolt and become woody.
Growing
Turnips need very little attention once they are established, other than the need
to keep a close eye out for pests, but never allow them to dry out as this will cause
them to bolt. If turnips are planted 15cm apart in 30cm rows they are all likely to
be ready at around the same time. This is ideal for overwintering plants, but for
plants maturing in the spring you can choose to extend the season by deliber-
ately sowing them too close to mature properly (roughly 10cm apart with 10-15cm
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